[Fourlanders] September VHF contest report

[Bob Lear]

No hurricane this year for the contest but we did have plenty of rain 
while we were on the mountain.  Somehow, we've managed to avoid rain for 
the Friday afternoon set up and the Monday morning takedown.  It was 
pretty wet from the overnight rain and dew but at least we didn't have 
rain while we were packing up.

Conditions were not great, no super band openings for us but we went 
slow and steady.  FT8 made a difference this time.  Here are the 
results.  They have been submitted to ARRL by our president, Bill. I 
posted on 3830 also.

6m    64 FT8    10 MSK144    60 Phone    134 tot    45 grids
2m    15 FT8      1 MSK144    67 Phone    1 CW    87 tot    30 grids
222                                            14 Phone    3 CW 17 
tot    11 grids
432                                            31 Phone    10 CW 41 
tot    19 grids          Ron did make some EME Q's
1296                                            3 Phone     3 CW 6 
tot        4 grids
microwave                                33 Phone 33 tot    3 grids
Final submitted score was 54,544.  Entered Full Multi for the contest.

We had a nice turnout for this contest.  No problem with trailer pullers 
and operators.  We had extras for a change.  Thanks to all the volunteers.
6m Band captain, Johnny K4SQC, using Jim W4KXY's new Icom 7300 and Beko 
6m SS amp.  The usual stacked pair of 5 el beams and the omni's.
2m band captain, Jim W4KXY, using Kos' N4NIA's 2m station, Yaesu FT-991 
and Beko 2m SS amp.  Omni's and stacked pair of 9 element beams.
222 band captain, Brian NX9O, his FT-1000MP, DEMI xvtr, Lunar Link amp 
and the stacked pair of 16 element beams.
432 band captain, Ron WW8RR, his IC-910, HB K2RIW amp and the 
four-square array of K2RIW 19 element beams with Az-El for EME and 
terrestrial plus omni's.
1296 band captain, Johnny K4SQC, Flex 6700, DEMI xvtr, W6PQL 150W amp 
and a pair of 45 element loop yagis mounted between the 222 beams.
microwave band captain, our esteemed President 'Evil' Bill KI4US with an 
un-identified plethora of microwave equipment plus 10 GHz Gunnplexers 
with which we all had some fun making the contacts.  I had brought a 
dish and another radio for 10 GHz with hopes of making a few contacts 
but I don't think my equipment was working at all. Kim brought some 
microwave gear too but we never had a chance to try it out as he left 
early.   Maybe we can continue to bring the high band gear in the future 
and have a large turnout like this one.  We think Johnny is hooked on 
1296 now, even with the small number of Q's.  Microwave is always fun.

We did experience some problems on 2m with the amp kicking out 
(self-protection).  Not sure whether it was the amp or the 991 but 
fingers are pointing to the 991.  It appeared to be a radio ALC problem 
that the amp was sensitive too and kept shutting down using CW or FT8.  
Worked OK on phone.  Paul went home and brought his 150W brick amp for 
2m and we used that for FT8.  Did make some FT8's barefoot too.  Thanks 
Paul.  We did forget a backup 2m radio.  Home in a box!  This problem 
will be investigated and reported when we find out what it was.

Operators were Jerry W5TDY, Rick KK4LPP, Rich KX4KD, Bob K4VBM, Kim 
WG8S, Paul W4SKI, Jim WE8W and Carol KK4LUM.  This was the first trip 
for Rich, Bob and Carol for the mountain-top contest.   We think they 
all had a good time.  Richard KF1SH was also supposed to join us but got 
called by work and wasn't able to make it.  We had some visitors too.  I 
missed one call sign of another camper at the campground who walked up 
to talk with us.  We were also visited by my friend Barney N8HP who 
drove down from the Johnson City TN area. Many of the group know him 
from Dayton every year.  We were also visited by a couple from 
Fayetteville NC, Mike K4JWX and Bobbi N4KAY who worked us from Cherokee 
and then came up to visit on Sunday.  We hope they have fared well with 
the hurricane.  They both are involved with EmComm there.

Can't get away without mentioning food.  Jerry did the dinners for the 
three nights.  Grilled Brats, sauerkraut, German Red cabbage, and 
macaroni and cheese for Friday night, Steak and Chicken Fajita's on 
Saturday night and Spaghetti with Italian sausage and a salad for Sunday 
night.  Thanks so much Jerry for picking up some of the meals from me.  
I did breakfasts and lunches.  Carol helped with the breakfast cooking.  
We had pancakes and sausage on Saturday, Scrambled eggs and bacon on 
Sunday and microwave biscuits on Monday morning.  Lunch both days was 
Ham and Turkey and cheese sandwiches with Potato Chips.  As usual there 
were no left-overs!!

Was so good to have Brian back with us as 222 band captain and pulling 
Great White for the contest.  Jerry pulled the other big cargo trailer 
for 6m, cooking and the 222 antenna mast, Johnny pulled the small cargo 
trailer we use for storage and his sleeping quarters.  Rick pulled the 
BlackHawk 2m tower trailer, Ron pulled the generator, Jim W4KXY pulled 
Rons 432 antenna trailer up.   I pulled my trailer with the 6m tower and 
golf cart.  Bill and Carol brought their travel trailer and Jim WE8W 
brought his pop-up camper for Ron and himself.  There were several tents 
set up and others of us slept in our trucks or SUV's.

Another good contest under our belts.  Don't know where we'll end up in 
the standings but should be our usual fifth or sixth I would guess.  
Didn't look like there were openings for others around the country either.

Thanks to all who participated and our visitors.  Put next years 
contests on your calendars and maybe we can continue with this larger 
group and plenty of trailer-pullers.  It does make things much easier 
for me and the planning.  Special thanks to all the guys who jockeyed 
the trailers back into position at my place saving me from having to 
move them again and also for unloading all the heavy stuff and setting 
the wet stuff out to dry.  Much appreciated.

73, Bobb